Wesley Willis
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Wesley Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was an African-American musician and artist from Chicago, Illinois as well as a diagnosed schizophrenic.
He gained a sizeable cult following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of bizarre and simplistic music which became an internet phenomenon during the early days of P2P file sharing.
Biography
Willis and his siblings spent most of their childhoods in various foster homes. He was a large man, standing 6'6" (198 cm) and weighing 350 lb (160 kg).In 1989, Willis began hearing what he called "demon voices" and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He often mentioned that his demons were named "Heartbreaker," "Nervewrecker," and "Meansucker". He called his psychotic episodes "hell rides". Alternatively, he declared rock and roll to be "the joy ride music" and Willis often indicated that listening to and performing music helped him battle the voices.
In the early 1990s, Willis became creatively active, selling magic marker drawings of the Chicago cityscape on the street. Some of the drawings would later appear on the covers of his albums.
In 1992, Willis joined musicians from the city's alternative rock scene to form the hard rock band, The Wesley Willis Fiasco, which produced such future file sharing favorites as "Jesus is the Answer" and "Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost". Although few took him seriously, Willis created a buzz in the Chicago music scene and soon caught the attention of American Recordings, a major record label.
Without his band, Willis was signed to the label in 1995 and went on to record two albums while producing dozens of other albums independently, becoming a minor novelty rock sensation. He toured frequently, was profiled on MTV and was a guest on The Howard Stern Show on September 26, 1996 where he played nearly-identical songs about Baba Booey and Stern.
Some questioned the aesthetic taste of Willis' audience. Rock critic Will Robinson Sheff wrote that Willis’ "periodic appearances for crowds of jeering white fratboys evoke an uncomfortable combination of minstrel act and traveling freakshow." Others heralded Willis as a welcome change from overproduced pop music.
One of Willis' trademarks was headbutting with his fans. Typically when approached by a fan, Willis would gingerly hold his or her head between his hands and say, "Say rock!" The fan would respond as instructed and Willis would bump his head against his or hers. Then he would say, "Say roll!" and the fan would again respond as instructed and the two would again bump heads. Willis would repeat this over and over as long as the fan would tolerate it. Willis also used the headbutt as a form of greeting to his friends. The large callus in the center of his forehead resulted from this habit.
Willis was also known to make absurd comments to his fans in person. At a performance at a frat house in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2001, he was heard telling a female fan to "go suck a dirty llama's dick." Also, he was renowned for his hatred of drugs and drug use.
On August 21, 2003, at the age of 40, Willis died due to complications from chronic myelogenous leukemia. At the time of his death, he had recorded over 1,000 songs but his total life savings were less than $300.
Having sold out hundreds of venues across the country, the question still remains where all of Willis' money went.
The summer of 2006 the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang had Wesley Willis Greatest Hits on top of their low-priced album chart for three weeks, even though his album was not available in Norway at the time. The mistake occured when there was a mix up in the codes the newspaper used for the albums in the list, and the code for Willis' album was mixed with a the code for a Bruce Springsteen album.["Three times error on 'VG-lista'", an article on propaganda-as.no] (In Norwegian)
Warhellride
"Warhellride" is a term used by Willis to describe his encounters with "demons", which occurred mainly on the CTA bus lines in Chicago. Willis, diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia, often claimed that demons were trying to ruin his "Harmony Joy Music" or "Harmony Joy Rides". Based on various quotes from Willis (which sometimes contradict one another) a "Warhellride" is most likely a horrible experience on a CTA bus (such as people being mean to Wesley and/or the bus driver refusing to play Rock music). Willis also uses the term to describe general harassment. He mentions in one of his songs, "He gave me a yelldown warhellride." When asked about the demons or Warhellrides, Willis would often comment that he was trying to "stay the hell out of prison" by "not hitting people in the street with bricks." In several songs, both terms are used openly. In fact, one of Willis's songs is entitled "I Deserved a Warhellride".Song style and structure
The Wesley Willis Fiasco songs were essentially heavy metal songs with Willis howling his obscene, absurd rants as lyrics. The Wesley Willis Fiasco recorded two cover songs, Pure Prairie League's "Amie" and Duran Duran's "Girls on Film", the latter of which they recorded for a 1997 Duran Duran tribute album. It was after the Fiasco broke up that Willis would increase his popularity.As a solo artist, Willis created more than 50 albums, each with nearly 30 tracks, full of bizarre, excited, and often obscene rants about crime, fast food, cultural trends, bus routes, violent confrontations with superheroes, commands for his "demons" to engage in bestiality, and praise for his favorite actors, best friends, politicians, and hip-hop and rock artists.
Willis's songs have a very specific form and style which is virtually always followed, leading most listeners to complain that it all sounds the same. Wesley never actually played the notes on his keyboard; he simply used the one-note autochord feature, with preprogrammed rhythms and harmonies. Typically one chord is used for the verses, and a pattern for the choruses and "solo" sections.
His lyrics also usually followed a set pattern, although it's difficult to classify his lyrics with any conventional rhyme scheme or meter. Lyrics generally began with a verse: four statements about the subject of the song. This was followed by the chorus, which was simply the subject of the song (typically the name) repeated four times. Then, another verse and another chorus. In the middle of the song, Willis — who had taken to heart advice he had heard that the ideal song length for radio-play is two minutes and 20 seconds — would push the "fill" button repeatedly on his keyboard, usually triggering accompanying sound effects; this part could last over a minute and a half. The song ended with another verse, a chorus, and the words "Rock over London! Rock on Chicago," a catchphrase from an hour long WXRT radio show. It was often followed by the words of a commercial slogan or catchphrase, which is different for every song. Occasionally the commercial at the end would even be for a competitor to the brand of the main song, if it is about a product or service. If performing live, "Chicago" would be replaced with whatever city he was performing in.
Willis' keyboard of choice was a Technics KN1200, according to a Howard Stern interview.
Cultural impact
In 2003, Filmmaker Daniel Bitton released a film about Wesley Willis called The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll. The documentary followed Willis around as he talks to himself, writes a song, performs a concert, records a track, and visits his friends. Bitton also interviewed many people who commonly interacted with Willis. Willis and his band the Fiasco were also featured in the 1997 Chicago rock documentary Out of the Loop.Jonti Picking, creator of the Internet cartoon Weebl and Bob, is a big fan of Willis. He has made an animation featuring Willis' song "Merry Christmas"[link], as well as a Weebl episode called "Poet"[link], dedicated to the memory of Willis.
The slogan of the music software program Winamp, "Winamp, it really whips the Llama's ass", was inspired by Willis' song "Whip the Llama's Ass" from his album Guitar Rock of Ages.
Willis' "Rock and Roll McDonald's" was featured in the documentary Super Size Me.
Willis' "Birdman Kicked my Ass" is the menu music on the DVD for the animated series, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Many bands have recorded songs referencing or imitating Wesley Willis:
- A Minnesota band, Screaming Mechanical Brain (formerly Screaming Monkey Boner), recorded a song about Wesley Willis, which used many elements from Willis's style including off-tune singing and repeating lyrics continuously.
- Radioactive Prostitute, a New England pop-noise act, recorded a tribute called "Wesley Willis" which recounts the experience of attending one of his concerts.
- A Ska band from Pennsylvania, The Go Go Rays, recorded another tribute entitled "Wesley Willis Ska" which talks about a show in Erie, Pennsylvania and other unrelated issues.
- Chicago-area trio Busker Soundcheck recorded a tribute song called "Wesley Willis" that very effectively mimicked his songwriting and music style in response to the song "Busker Soundcheck" that Willis had previously recorded.
- There is a Wesley Willis reference in the Ozma song "Flight of the Bootymaster".
- Willis shared a split 7" record with the band The Frogs; Willis' song was "The Frogs" and The Frogs' song was "Wesley Willis". [link]
- Heavy Vegetable's 1995 album "Frisbie" included "Song for Wesley," whose lyrics praise Willis and imitate his characteric song-ending style.
- San Francisco band Stinkfinger's cover songs of "[Hey Jude]" and "[Any Way You Want It]" were also inspired by Wesley Willis.
- Dave Hartig co-wrote the song "Easy E Tried to Kill Me" after a drinking binge with Willis in 1997.
- The hidden track on The W's album "Fourth From The Last" is a tribute to Five Iron Frenzy, written and performed in the style of Wesley Willis.
External links
- [Alternative Tentacles Wesley Willis Biography]
- [monzy.org Wesley Willis Biography including Wesley Willis Song Generator]
- [Press release] from Willis' good friend Jello Biafra in memory of Willis
- [Wesley Willis Art], drawings by Willis of scenes in Chicago
- [Loved Like a Milkshake] A Wesley Willis tribute album by a variety of artists
- [Interview with Willis]
- [Wesley Willis on Artist Direct]
- [Wesley Willis Biography]
- [streaming video of Wesley Willis]
- [Review of Willis concert with formula on his song construction]
- [Art of Wesley Willis] Over 100 high quality scans of Wesley Willis art.
References
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